Connecticut western news., 1887-05-18
INDIA RUBBER.
How the Natives of Costa Rica
 Take It to Market.
A Thrifty Tree Able To Yield More Than
 Fifty Pounds of Rubber.

A Thrifty Tree Able To Yield More Than
 B Fifty Pounds of Rubber.
 The chief industry in eastern Costa Rica is the collection of .caoutchouc (pronounced keechook, with the accent strong on the first syllable), as thu na-. tive Indians call that substance to ns known as India rubber Not many years ago, says the Providence Journal, morathan 1ao, 900 pounds of 1t were shipped every month from Graytown alone, Dpt at present the average export per month is only about 62 900 pounds. 'This considerable falling off is due to the fact that no legal or other survcil- lance is exercised over the gathering of the gum, and with the customary im- providence of theso people many of the valuable trees which yield it have been ruined. The Yularoes or rubber hunters are the most ignorant and lrre-
 
 when out in hunt is to secure as much caoutchouc as possible and next to dam. age the prospects of other Yularoes, re- gardlcss of the future.
 A thrifty tree at it's first cutting, ought to yield not less than fifty pounds of rubber but the hunters of to- day tiud few so prof .able-unless they penetrate far into the virgin forests and are lucky enough to discover aa entirely new district. In those sections already worked most of tho trees have been tapped several times and many of them were spoiled at the outset by having been cut too youug-ts greedy discov- ercr fearing that if tho prize were left to attain perfection another might find and secure it. Were the matter regulat- cd by judcious laws, SO that only ma- ture trees might be tapped, and those not to an extent to cause death, the production of caoutchouc would be greatly increasel. 7, Recently the Costa Rican government has offered entlnsive grants of land to any who will devote them to the culture of rubber trees but so far few have availed themselves of the opportunity.
 M my attempts have been made to i'm port the juice of ths tree in its natural state, but SO far none of these efforts have succeeaad. While in liquid form it may be fashioned into any shape by means of mold|, bat no process has yet been discovered to prevent its solidify- ing. There is always a good deal of partially hard .ned caoutchouc adhering to the bark of the tree, which is torn off in long, stringy masses, called herucha. Of course, this is not nearly so valuable as the solid cakes, and is more especial. ly the product of those trees that have been cut several times, anl therefore cannot yield a copious flow of sap; but it is wrapped up in bundles and exported for various purposes. Commercially speaking, tho caoutchouc of Paris k considered best, and commands tho highest price in market, while that from the west coast of Afr.ca is least desira- ble, being only slightly elastic, and Qikt its col'cctors) extremely offensive in odor Great quantities arc also brought iron British India. Mauritius, and th Indian archipelago.
 The milky juice, which plays now s' important part among the earth's pro. ductions, was first used by those Centra American Indians. Their caoutchou was made known to the world as elast gum, and was long afterward given tn nhme of rubber from the discovery o its usefulness in rubbing out the mark If black lead pencils. For the latte purpose it began to be imported int Great Britain toward the close of tn last century, and beng much valued b. artists was i'd at a high price. Earl in 1880 the Spanish conquis ,adores i Mexico had learned to make caoutchou into shoes and also used it for waxin their canvas cloa'ls to make them resis water-something as the clothing of tn modern Yu,aro is coated. That, n doubt, was the origin of the idea of it manufacture into waterproof cloth which first gave it great commercial in portance Not until 1890 did it's CIT ployment begin to extend much bcyon
 the erasing eff pencil marks, though tn
 quantity imported had con ilcrably ir